real – Page 6 – Alaska Bible Teacher

Still Standing, Still Running

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.”

“And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”

Hebrews 12:1

“Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.”

Philip Yancey

Just on a general basis, life can be terribly hard. I have had to face down so many enemies. Most all of them have been health issues, some critical. I know that there are many others that have also been besieged. To stand, and run with endurance takes the Holy Spirit (+ our weakness).

We’ve been called to stay standing, and to continue running.

The Bible is rich with verses that encourage believers to persevere, remain steadfast, and endure through hardships. Here are 10 promises that will never fail.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7
“For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.” Hebrews 10:36
“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,” Romans 5:3
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” James 1:2-3
“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” Romans 12:12

“To learn strong faith is to endure great trials. I have learned my faith by standing firm amid severe testings.”

George Mueller

“As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” James 5:11
“Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.” Hebrews 10:36, NLT
“But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:13
“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had,” Romans 15:5
“Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:4
“But if we must keep trusting God for something that hasn’t happened yet, it teaches us to wait patiently and confidently.” Romans 8:25, LB

Somehow I just realized that “joy” must be found. The race is long and hard. If you are really a believer, you will run for the rest of your life. Challenging, yes. But the Holy Spirit will give you His joy. “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Neh. 8:10.)

“The only true conqueror who shall be crowned in the end is he who continues until war’s trumpet is blown no more…. Christian, wear your shield close to your armor and cry earnestly to God, that by His Spirit you may endure to the end.”

Alistair Begg

Your Heavy Load

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavily burdened [by religious rituals that provide no peace], and I will give you rest [refreshing your souls with salvation]. ²⁹Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me [following Me as My disciple], for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest (renewal, blessed quiet) for your souls.”

Matthew 11:28-29, Amplified Bible

He is inviting us.

Jesus requests our presence in one simple statement, “come to Me.” This phrase must be our starting point. It’s how you begin daily. If you’re His disciple, it’s imperative that you obey. But this concept is nuanced, it has profound meanings.

“All who are weary.” Each of us carries a heavy load. Sin has weight, whether we believe it or not. When I start to see this, I really begin my discipleship. Apart from Jesus’ invitation I will try to carry this heaviness on my own. This is called “religion,” and it’s a bad thing.

“My guilt overwhelms me—
it is a burden too heavy to bear.”

Psalm 38:4

“I will give you rest.” It’s His gift, given to each believer. It isn’t earned, you don’t deserve it. His heart is for you to “rest.” The original Greek word often means “to refresh, or to cease your work.” Every true disciple knows this, and understands that Jesus rather laying a terrible burden on us, takes it off.

We must understand our calling.

Another burden (His own burden), is now given to us. It’s Jesus’own weight shared with believers. But it’s a restful burden that gives joy and peace. There are no longer sweaty religious rules, but authentic rest. Real discipleship is now based on love, not duty.

To follow Him in obedience is the happy delight of every disciple. When you are in love with Him the rigors of obedience have little weight.

“It never cost a disciple anything to follow Jesus; to talk about cost when you are in love with anyone is an insult.”

Oswald Chambers

“For I am gentle and humble in heart,” is His nature. He always acts this way, it is who Jesus is. This is how He behaves to each of us. It becomes the very essence of how He relates to human beings, always gentle and completely humble. Sometimes we add things that obscure this, and we see Jesus in our own particular image. (Maybe that’s a way of defining idolatry?)

And finally--“and you will find rest for your souls.” Again, the Greek here is quite instructive: rest, “cessation of any motion, or labor.” My walk, following Him, isn’t working harder, but being in a joyful rest. God’s saints aren’t called to sweat, but walk in the sureness of the presence of Jesus inside them.

Life can be awfully hard. Trials come and we get overwhelmed.

The joyful rest is only a slice of what heaven will be like. If joy and peace are a wonder now, just you wait, our future holds promises of a continual awareness of Him in our new bodies. This fallen world will be completely remade. Sin, sadness and Satan will be no more.

“And me? I plan on looking you full in the face. When I get up, I’ll see your full stature and live heaven on earth.”

Psalm 17:15, MSG

Leaving Your Boat Behind

²⁷“But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying,

“Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

²⁸And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.”

Matthew 14:27-29, (context, vv. 22-33)

Jesus is full of surprises! You can never guess the things He will do next. He is Lord after all. To walk on water is totally impossible. But Jesus does it. He walks on it as if it were a concrete sidewalk. When they see Him they freak out. They couldn’t believe their eyes.

Jesus wants to reveal to His disciples His true nature.

They had just seen Him multiply fish and loaves, He fed five thousand plus just a few hours ago. Wasn’t that a miracle enough? It seems that Jesus doesn’t think so.

For some inexplicable reason, Peter wants to insert himself into Jesus’ miracle. Oddly, he has decided he’ll join Jesus, and leave behind the security of the boat–for the insecurity of the impossible! He truly believes that Jesus can hold him up somehow. Perhaps this alone is the most amazing part of this passage. Can a man duplicate the walk of Jesus? Can we walk like Him?

Peter really wants to leave the security of the boat, for the insecurity of the impossible.

It seems to me that we’re constantly doing the “Peter thing.” It’s true our walk of faith really is intensely supernatural, and yet we somehow forget this. And face it, we’ll never generate the “fruits of the Holy Spirit” on our own. Our most sincere efforts will never turn water into something solid.

We will never walk the disciple’s path without faith in the Master who calls us to come to Him.

I think Jesus wants us to join Him. Our faith in Him is the key. We believe that we can walk with Him, we believe we will see the impossible. Without question it’s Jesus’ power that holds us up. Our faith in Him is the ignition point in all of this. Our mustard seed faith, combined with Jesus’ power. becomes the true walk of the disciple.

We must bravely launch ourselves into the purposes of God. Jump when God puts opportunity in your path.

To merely sit in the boat is hardly faith. When Peter steps over the gunwales, he steps into the world of the amazing. The water holds him, and his trust in Jesus solidifies like the water he walks on. He is now doing the impossible. He’s now becoming very much like Jesus.

Our walk seems terribly weak at times, we can easily list our sin and weaknesses. We’re not quite convinced that the blood of Jesus covers all our sin–and therefore we can’t step out of the boat. I think it’s Peter’s faith in Jesus’ power that holds him up.

When his faith falters, he does the “rock thing,” There is something about his circumstances–the wind, and the waves that begin to frighten him. (But I must believe Jesus was pleased.)

To really understand, to obey Jesus is to step out of our boat in faith; when we do we’ll start to see miracles happen.

“Christ will always accept the faith the puts its trust in Him.”

-Andrew Murray

It Gets Even Better

I just saw a t-shirt. “It gets better,” and inside me something connected, it resonated. If there is something like spiritual mirth and laughter, I could barely contain myself. I wanted to shout and dance, but being an old man I knew I had to take extra Advil if I did. (Besides I was in Safeway.)

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

Romans 8:18

The last 20 years are something I’d rather forget and erase. It seems I’ve been hit with just about everything awful you can imagine. After each incident I find myself thinking, “finally, it’s done,” but no, it’s not really done, there’s more coming. I’m smiling as I write these words. “But no, it’s not.” Ha!

Being slammed over and over has created within me a special longing for my real home. When I ponder the eternity of heaven the knots of this life begin to unravel, and I see life as it really is. You see present day life is quite temporary, and these many issues will be forgotten.

The Apostle is remarkably clear about this.

“Neither count my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy,” is Paul’s take on his life’s issues. To finally complete all of the moments–and do it with joy, is his goal. Crossing the tape triumphantly is the hope of the staggering believer. And it is mine.

My pain is just for a simple singular moment, but eternity is time on steroids.

It is forever and ever and ever and ever.

On my end, the exchange I make is hardly perfect. I turn in my “sawdust” and get gold in return, and who can turn this trade down? My ugliness becomes eternal beauty and who can resist such a deal? These terrible things that hurt me so badly carry an everlasting weight of glory.

Brother, please believe this. Yes, I know, it hurts.

The Greek word “worthy” in verse 18 can be translated “having weight” which suggests a heaviness or burden that must be carried. But even so, it’s temporary. It enters but passes, even though at the moment it seems forever. You carry it for a moment–but that is all. and it’s done.

I look, and gaze into eternity, and laugh in joy.

Crushed Grapes

“For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.”

2 Corinthians 1:8

“As I look back over fifty years of ministry, I recall innumerable tests, trials and times of crushing pain. But through it all, the Lord has proven faithful, loving, and totally true to all his promises.”

David Wilkerson

The word is in New Testament Greek is θλῖψις, or thlipsis. It means affliction, trouble, or pressure. It’s used 45 times in the NT and it seems to be used in a negative sense. Personally I think “pressure” is the most intriguing.

To write anything on suffering and pain is a bit of a fool’s errand.

It’s a broad subject and it will vary from person-to-person.

And I’ve no special insight to give. I know this. Perhaps though, something will come of this. Personally, I have had several traumatic (and dramatic) brushes with pain and suffering. Almost all of them have come as a believer–(I hope that doesn’t mess with your theology).

Looking at the Apostle Paul we can see suffering clearly. Often his ministry was extremely hard. He wrestled repeatedly over his churches and his own sin. When we look at the totality of his work we start to realize that being crushed was part of calling. He understood the challenge of himself and his message.

It meant a crushing cross and it is only the crushed grapes that yielded the wine.

I write this first to remind you that to minister true grace in any real capacity will mean difficulty. But I also want to encourage you to see that God will always bring life when we remain obedient to Him.

That’s how it works. (At least I think so.)

“When God wants to do an impossible task He takes an impossible man and crushes him.”

Alan Redpath

Finding the Pearl

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”

Matthew 13:45-46

A different perspective.

The central issue seems to be of value. The pearl was magnificent. This merchant had never seen one like this. It gleamed in his hands, and he knew he must have it. It wasn’t an option, he had to buy it. His response–sell everything to the highest bidder (of course) and buy it.

The Lord Jesus loves each of us intensely.

Rather the people who make up the body. He loves everyone, but he’s crazy about his people. I have a shirt, and I’ll wear it sometimes when I feel like it could touch someone, it says “Jesus Loves You, but I’m His favorite.” I know it’s funny, but maybe it’s true? I know that he loves me–crazy-like. And I love that He loves, even me.

We’re His pearls.

His blood, and His cross was the purchase price. That’s what it took. When we truly believe we acknowledge that we are His now. He paid for us, completely.

Jesus sees, and he must have us. So he comes, and pays the price, he sells it all just to possess us. He now owns us. We know that there is nothing remarkable about us, for we understand our own sinfulness, we really see that we’re spiritually evil all of the time. The theologians call it “the depravity of man.” (Ecclesiastes 9:3; Job 15 :14-16; Matthew 15:19).

But our faith in Him changes everything! We have been bought off the slave block of sin. We have been chosen.

“Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect.”

2 Timothy 2:10

We realize that we are the elect as believers when we put our faith in what Jesus did for us. Believe me, that’s not what I feel or sense about myself. But it’s what He sees, and He desperately wants me to be his own–and I don’t know why he would do such a thing. It makes no sense to me at all.

God’s love has reasons which reason cannot understand.

Needing His Cross Daily

I confess that peace has never been really high on my list. Love, joy, kindness, and even goodness are clear priorities. Peace… not so much. Until I find out it’s not there. And then I get frantic by its absence and scrambling look for it with bewilderment.

Sometimes I don’t understand why God still loves me. At times like this anxiety eats at me. I beat myself up by my last failure. The guilt of my latest sin grows until it looms larger than the blood that saved me. Sometimes I suppose, religious people seem to have the most neurosis.

I’m afraid that we are taking the ‘present tense’ out of the Gospel.

The past tense is preferable to us as we find it easier to ‘manage’ our Christian life. We like to make check marks on our list. [Church attendance– check. Baptism– check. Bible study– check.] I think it gives me a definite feeling of ‘maturity.’

But these things matter little without intimacy with Jesus Christ.

I certainly haven’t arrived, and it seems at times I’m still the hideous sinner I always was. I cannot pretend otherwise, even with a spiritual truckload of cosmetics at my disposal. I know, I’ve tried. And I’m still ‘ugly.’ I do know forgiveness, and I do walk in its wonderful light (by grace).

I read Luther 30 years ago. (And Bonhoeffer would say something similar.)

“When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent,’ he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”

Martin Luther

This is the first of his 95 Theses nailed to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. And there is a present tense here we can’t ignore about these declarations. I don’t just repent over smoking, beer drinking, fornication, or hypocrisy, once and done. But my entire way of living is to be one of repenting. To repent everyday opens the door to a true grace-filled discipleship.

“All of the Christian life is repentance. Turning from sin and trusting in the good news that Jesus saves sinners aren’t merely a one-time inaugural experience but the daily substance of Christianity. The gospel is for every day and every moment. Repentance is to be the Christian’s continual posture.”

John Piper

Luther’s last words, on his deathbed, was found written on a scrap of paper stuck in his coat, “We are beggars! This is true.” Even after thirty years, he was only echoing his first thesis.

It seems dear ones, we are to live at the foot of the cross.

The Absolute Danger in Exalting Yourself

⁷Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, ⁸“When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, ⁹and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place.

¹⁰But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. ¹¹For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Luke 14:7-11, ESV

Choose your seat carefully. In Jesus’ day, there was a definite seating order to a wedding feast. It wasn’t first come, first served. There was a strict protocol, where one’s importance mattered.

Honored people got honorable seats–close to the front as possible. Average people got average spots; but no one wanted be at the bottom, having to sit at the “kids table.”

Jesus was watching, and he what he saw was a spiritual principle of his Kingdom.

Jesus often teaches us out of the things we encounter.

Truth often hits us from those things we actually see. If you want to know what God is doing in your life, all you need to do is look around at the practical things, and start to see the spiritual lessons inside them. We learn from real-life. That’s how he often teaches us, he combines the Word with what we’re experiencing.

Our natural inclination is to move higher up.

We think that we’re deserving, and so we take our rightful positions. That’s the way humans think. We all want to sit in the best possible place, and so we end up wheedling our way up front. We can fall into the subtle trap of self-promotion. But that’s not how discipleship works.

Jesus corrects, advising us to take the lowest place.

I think verse 11 is the key to figuring out this seating arrangement. We’re starting to see a physical situation become a spiritual lesson. There’s much to learn. Here’s verse 11 in the Amplified version:

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled [before others], and he who habitually humbles himself (keeps a realistic self-view) will be exalted.”

Luke 14:11

This particular translation injects some realism into our lives, especially in how we see ourselves. It’s quite foundational. It lays down a principle that is always true in his Kingdom (1 Peter 5:6). If we don’t accept and implement this, we’ll suffer a definite weakness in our discipleship. It stunts the growth of many believers. And that is tragic.

The whole scene lays out how life in the spirit really works, and it seems paradoxical.

Our human logic asserts that deliberately choosing the lesser is foolish, things really don’t work that way. We think, (falsely,) that we’ll only advance by asserting ourselves. But Jesus, quite aptly, clarifies the ways of the Kingdom.

True maturity will only come if we decide to take the lowest place.

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”

James 4:10

Ponder the Word

“But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

Psalm 1:2

In Psalm 1:2 the Hebrew word for meditation is hagah. In this Psalm we have a contrast between the blessed and the “not-so-blessed,” and it commands that as Jesus’ followers that we process the reality of this to become blessed by our Father.

In Psalm 1:1 the word blessed is used, and actually just in the book is Psalms alone blessed is used 51 times. The word has a very simple and concise meaning: “to be happy.” I really don’t think we can minimize how important it is to be happy.

In 1:2 we read hagah or meditate. That Hebrew word is a little bit more complicated and it seems more nuanced than “blessed.”

Hagah, or meditate means:

to chew a cud like a cow
to growl like a lion who is eating an antelope
to moan or groan
to talk to oneself, or mutter or whisper
finally, it can mean to muse or imagine

Yeah, it’s an interesting word and I suppose all of these meanings are to be factored into meditation [hagah]. It seems that these five definitions shape the different meanings that go into our understanding.

Using the above definitions, this is how it might look:

sometimes I regurgitate the word like a cow chewing its cud
at times I attack it like a lion
I moan and groan as I wrestle with it, seeking for a handhold
thinking about the passage I talk to myself about its meaning
I imagine being there, sometimes it’s like I’m a “fly-on-the-wall”

When we come to God’s words, the Bible, we are required to assimilate all that the Holy Spirit graciously gives. When He gives us something from the Word we must apply it to ourselves. You can do this through any of the 5 definitions I’ve given.

The Holy Spirit is the One who ignites His Word into our hearts.

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

Joshua 1:8, ESV

The Children Are Our Examples

Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. ¹⁶But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. ¹⁷

“Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

Luke 18:15-17

Again we were wrong (like usual it seems). I guess that we were trying to maximize Jesus’ ministry. We meant well, but He needed organization. So that was now our “ministry.” We simply felt that Jesus’ time was our concern, and as His disciples we wanted Him to connect with those who really mattered.

The parents were bringing their children to be blessed by Jesus.

“It was the custom for mothers to bring their children to some distinguished Rabbi on the first birthday that he might bless them.”

William Barclay

Jesus made it clear that these children needed to be the focus of our ministry. Our efforts were not to be centered on adults, rather it was misguided thinking that we direct Jesus’ work to be focused and redirected. These little ones were in the way.

Up to now, Jesus’ work was for adults. Or so we thought.

There were lepers, demon-possessed, paralyzed, tax-collectors all waiting for His ministry. Somehow we overlooked the needs of little children. Again, we were wrong, misguided, and ignorant of the walk we were called to.

Trust me on this–we believed otherwise. Up to now, we assumed that maturity meant sophistication. It was all about right thinking and good theology–it was these things God was looking for. We assumed that being simple wasn’t quite what Jesus wanted from us. Rather we believed the opposite.

And sure enough, Jesus explained what we were missing.

Children were to become our focus. They were the ones who we were to emulate and esteem. The radical thing to us was understanding that these ‘little ones’ were that significant.

“Let these children alone. Don’t get between them and me. These children are the kingdom’s pride and joy. Mark this: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.”

Luke 18:16-17, The Message

This was like a 2×4 across the head! It was nothing less than another radical thought from our Teacher. And trust me, this wasn’t easy, but Jesus was crystal clear. We dare not think otherwise, but believing this was against all we thought the Kingdom was.

Jesus explained that childlikeness was the only way we could enter His Kingdom.

Children were now to be our examples. Their simplicity was to be our guide. Their simple innocence was how we were to see ourselves. You have no idea how extreme this was to us.

This was the Kingdom of God’s doorway into true discipleship. We carried this lesson for the rest of our lives. It was something we passed on to our disciples.

“Part of the exquisite beauty of salvation is its simplicity. Any man, woman, or child can come to Christ with absolutely nothing to offer Him but simple faith-just as they are. Salvation requires nothing more than childlike faith–believing that Jesus Christ died for my sins and accepting His gift of Salvation.”

Beth Moore